I guess this is like a sequel to You always are. I got a couple of requests for it over the weekend (!) and I have to admit, I kinda had fun doing this. Besides, now I know how to play with fanfiction without it looking like One big block of writing and having the author's notes all jammed up with the story. But I'm still learning, so if it looks weird, there you go.
# Story number two! "I always Do"#

"You are never gonna believe this one. I was just dumped by an elf."

Kitty sat at her desk, writing. Rogue was used to this, but the look of horror on her face was so priceless that she had to ask. "What happened?"

"Kurt.. he- I mean, Rogue.. I mean- That just doesn't happen!"

Rogue raised her eyebrows. "What did he do? Kiss you? I knew he was gonna do it one of these days. But he always got so offended when we teased him about it. It was getting kinda funny."

"No, Rogue, that's it! I kissed him!"

That stopped her. "You did what now."

"That's not even like, the worst bit!"

Rogue sat on the edge of her bed. "Oh my god, you didn't- but you know how they feel about that!"

"Oh, no! That would have been fine, what's like, wrong, is that he was the one who like, said No?"

"Uh." Rogue stared at her. "He was doing the Catholic bit on you, right?"

"No! Not even that! He totally blew me off! I got the idea that if I ever went near him again.. like that... He'd give me a mouth full of Brimstone." Kitty shook her head. "It was so totally out there. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone, you know?"

They sat there for a few moments, both as shocked as the other. Kurt had always been after Kitty, from what Rogue knew. When she'd absorbed some of him, she had found a complete crush for the Valley girl. And he'd only known her about a week then. There was even a pool going around Evan about how long it would take before Kitty and Kurt got together. And Kurt had a bet in that one! Kitty knew about it and had walloped him across the head, but unbeknownst to anyone but Evan, even Kitty had a few dollars in the pile.

This was weird.

"Did he joke around? Act like it was a joke, or like he was playing hard to get?" asked Rogue.

Kitty shook her head. "He was totally serious. So not like him, you know?"

########################-################################

By the end of the night, everyone knew. Kurt hadn't been at dinner, having taken a stack of food to his room beforehand instead. He'd almost blushed to death when Evan had found him.

"Man! She was all over you, sticking her tongue down her throat, and you said back off? Dude! Are you nuts!"

Now he had barricaded himself in his room. He couldn't understand their reactions. All of them had told him to give it up at some point or another. HE had. Now what did they want? Him to turn around and become a waiting room for the Kitty and Lance dating game?

Only Jean seemed to understand. Downstairs she was talking in low tones to Scott in the common room.

"He's sick of being treated like dirt, Scott." She said. "He's just her backup. You can't blame him for getting ticked."

"But what timing. Kurt wants Kitty.. then he changes her mind at the same time she does? It's weird."

She blushed suddenly. "Kurt was.. kinda projecting at the time. I heard what was going through his head."

Scott leaned forward. "Yeah?"

"It isn't that he doesn't, you know, want her, it's more that he's figured out that she treats him like.. and this is his words, not mine, a plush toy and kissing practice."

"A plush toy."

"Yeah. And he's right. She does. I would have said a cat, myself, but to each his own."

"A cat."

"Yeah. She pets him when she needs to feel better. He's being used here, Scott."

Scott shook his head. "I dunno. He's still a guy, I tell you, if I was in his position and the girl of my dreams started doing that to me.."

Jean stared at him. "SCOTT!"

########################-################################

Rahne and Jamie were the only ones who didn't know yet. Rahne had been out with a friend and no one would explain anything to Jamie. So they went straight to the source.

"Kurt?"

"If this is about Kitty, I don't want to talk about it." His voice was clear, but distracted.

"Well, we don't know what it's about." Said Rahne. "I just got home and no one's telling Jamie. All we know is something happened this afternoon that has the entire student body buzzing."

"You can come in, but I'm not promising anything." Now it sounded like his mouth was full.

It was. Kurt had been about to bite into a huge sandwich when they'd knocked. Now he was trying to eat it fast so they could talk. "Ja?"

"Why don't you wanna talk about Kitty?" asked Jamie. "You always wanna talk about Kitty."

Kurt smiled through his food. "I do, don't I?"

"So why the change of heart?" asked Rahne, sitting at his desk.

He glanced at Jamie. Hey, the little kid needed to figure it out one day. But from him? "Uh, she um.." he swallowed and licked his lips. "She tried- well, she kissed me today."

Rahne stared and Jamie sat down suddenly.

"And I said no."

Jamie had to lean back on his hands. "NO way."

"Pretty close, ja."

"Why?" muttered Rahne. She knew his ears would pick it up. "Why would Kurt Wagner say no to Kitty Pryde?"

"See, that is why I don't want to talk about Kitty. No one gets it."

A small smile got onto Rahne's face. "You figured it out. And you got insulted!"

"Figured what out?" asked Jamie.

"Ja. I guess I did."

"What did you figure out!"

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"Someone talk to me! I don't get it!"

"I don't know. I guess I have to talk to her eventually. But she doesn't seem to follow what I was talking about."

"Do I have a new power to go invisible? Come on!"

"Kurt figured out that-"

"Kitty thinks I'm a big teddy bear that will just run back to her every time she calls." Said Kurt, falling back on his bed. "And so far, I have been. So today, when she tried to call me back again, and I didn't jump into her.. arms, everyone kinda thought it was weird."

"Oh."

Rahne scratched her ears. "Well, if you really want, I guess we can go see how she's feeling at the moment."

Kurt looked over his chest at her. "Was?"

"See if she knows what she's doing."

"Ja, I know what she's thinking- 'I can't believe it, I was dumped by an elf!'" he did a very good impression, really. He shook his head. "Nein. I have to talk to her. But I think I'll do it tomorrow."

Rahne raised an eyebrow.

"Night." He continued. "When I can hide and no one will ever find me."

########################-################################

Rogue was getting distinctly annoyed now. Kitty hadn't stopped pacing, mumbling or writing since dinner. She had to live with it. It was getting late.

"Rogue wants sleep!" she moaned.

"But I don't get it!" cried Kitty. "He's never said anything before!"

"You mean you've done this before?"

"No. But, like, he's always been my shoulder. And he's always flirting with me. I don't get it. Why would he do this? We weren't doing anything wrong!"

"Kitty, you poke a crocodile, eventually he's gonna snap at you."

"What?"

Rogue resigned herself to pointing out what everyone else refused to do. "Kurt has fur, he's soft and cuddly, I think, and he's a sweet guy. But you seem to forget that last word- GUY. Get over yourself. He has feelings and you're always walking all over him, except when you need him to hold you. You live what you know and all Kurt ever knows from you is abuse. And it's about frikkin time, too."

"What do you mean? I know Kurt's a guy. I don't like.. abuse him."

"Yes you do. You play cheap cards by talking about his looks in an argument, in fact, you're always going back to it. He never holds it against you, though I sure as hell do, and he always listens to your problems." Rogue looked away suddenly. "he listens to everyone's problems. And no one ever repays him. Except you, and all you ever do is give him a few hugs when you need them. Kurt's a person, Kitty. He figured that out today and all you can think about is that he must be gay or something. Jesus Christ."

Rogue turned over in bed to face the window and closed her eyes. She wanted to start standing up and slapping Kitty around, but she thought that would go a little far. All through her little speech, Kitty had stared and slowly brought her hand up to her mouth. She'd never once thought about what she was doing, Rogue realised.

But Kitty had actually raised her hand to keep it from clenching. What did Rogue know? She had no idea how their relationship worked. Kurt knew Kitty cared about him. Kurt knew all those things she said were just a joke. And when they weren't, she didn't really mean them. He'd said so himself. She never meant it, she was always sorry. He wanted Kitty, Kitty was just giving him what he wanted today.

Right?

########################-################################

Scott was apologising to Kurt when she came downstairs the next morning.

"I didn't realise it actually got you."

Kurt laughed. "Well it did. I didn't realise you'd hurt it until later." He waved his hand around. "But herr McCoy said that's because my bone structure's so whacked. It can do weird things without even hurting, so when it breaks, it needs to break a lot to hurt straight away."

"So, how bad is it?"

"Meh." Kurt considered his holographic wrist. "Just a sprain. I don't get out of writing, but I do get out of tomorrow's danger room session." He grinned evilly. "There are always perks to every situation, Cyke."

HE noticed Kitty and looked down at his plate, quiet. Scott twisted to look what was happening and saw her. He frowned and her eyes widened.

Was the entire institute going to be mad at her?

From the conversation at the table, that was a no. Only Scott, Rahne, Jean and Kurt acted differently. Kurt was very formal and quiet toward her, Scott and Rahne slightly cruel, and Jean seemed a little exasperated.

Evan, however, thought the entire thing to be a big joke, and he told her so on the walk to school (Scott had managed to forget her).

"I mean, none of us were expecting him to do that."

Kitty looked up. "Why do you think he did?"

Evan shrugged. "No one will ever know, will they? Because we are all members, of the twilight zone." He made the funny noise. "I'm beginning to think that wasn't even Kurt. Maybe the Brotherhood captured him and that was really Mystique last night. That would explain why he wasn't at dinner either."

"Ew! Like, gross! Mystique?"

"Yeah! I can picture it now. They're trying to get info on the mansion, what better way than to pose as one of us? And the Brotherhood love to pick on the K-man, they probably think this is all a huge joke."

Evan was kidding, but the idea was very plausible to Kitty. Why else would Kurt act like that?

"That'd explain a lot. Like why he wasn't talking to me at breakfast, too. He usually gets over anything really quick. Or blames it on himself. To tell you the truth I wouldn't put what happened past Mystique, either. She probably is, like, you know.."

Evan shuddered. "Man, not even I want an image like that in my head."

But Kitty had latched onto this idea now. And she knew just how to find out if it was right..

########################-################################

Lance was leaning on her locker when she arrived. "Hey Pretty Kitty."

"Hey, Lance. I was like, just looking for you." Said Kitty, smiling.

"Look, I just wanted to apologise for what I said. You know I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, you know?"

Yeah right, she thought. Like hell you didn't. "I can always forgive you." Smiled Kitty. Something in that was familiar, like someone had said the exact same thing to her.

"If there's any way I can make it up to you, you just tell me, yeah?"

Kitty looked at him. "Well, actually, yeah, there is." She said, turning around to him. "You guys aren't doing anything to Kurt, are you?"

"What?" Lance looked totally surprised. He wasn't guilty, just shocked. "You want me to do something to the fuzzball?"

"No!" She giggled, pushing him slightly. "I just want you to be honest with me for a sec. So, like, he's been acting weird lately, I was just wondering if like, Toad or someone did something."

Lance shook his head. "Nope. Sorry Kitty. We were thinking of the flea powder again, but last time that kinda backfired coz Mystique found out somehow. Any ideas?"

She sighed, picking up the biggest textbook Lance had ever seen. She turned to him. "None at all. He's just like, weird."

########################-################################

"The fuzzball's cracking up." Whispered Lance as he put down his tray. "We gotta use this."

Pietro looked up, bored. "I'm sick of the freak. He's too easy and nothing ever sticks."

"What d'you mean?"

"He's always still the same the next day. We can't take his watch, you guys won't let me. So we keep doing these stupid little pranks on the same guy. It's getting boring."

"He doesn't react, yo?" said Todd. "Never does anything back."

"Why don't we do Summers?" suggested Freddy.

"Nah, too hard to get at." Said Pietro. "Daniels, there's a target."

"Come on, guys. Kitty told me before school, he's been acting weird. This is the time to get to him. No more Blue boy."

Tabby glared at him. She wasn't technically part of the brotherhood, but she still hung out with them. "Please. Get a life, would you?"

"You're still hung up on him? Jesus, Tabby."

"Hey, I kissed him. I know what I'm missing."

########################-################################

"Hmm, Taiwan. Must be good quality." Muttered Kurt, throwing Evan a disgusted look.

Evan shook his head. "You try to find wheels that aren't."

"I'm only doing this once, Evan. The fuzzy dude does not like skateboards." He grimaced, remembering the last time he tried to get on one. "And I'm only doing this because I have to."

"Under protest, I know, man!" Evan strapped on his last buckle. "But you want a reason to stay out, you gotta work for it."

"There is a very large difference between not going home and doing a death defying stunt."

"Says the guy who enjoys walking tightropes."

"Meh." Kurt shrugged, looking up the ramp. "At least I know what I'm doing. That's not death defying."

"Hey, you're here to spot me."

"Bite me." Snapped Kurt. He teleported to the top of the ramp. "If you die, I'm not going to the funeral!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!"

"Hey Evan, is that Kurt?"

Evan spun around, heart thumping, until he saw Kitty. "Uh, yeah. But he can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message at the beep."

"Ha ha. You know I need to talk to him. Get him down or I phase through the TV."

Evan spun again. "Yo! Crawler! The jig is up, dude!"

There was a distinct groan from the top of the ramp. Nothing happened for a minute, until they heard a Bamf.

He reappeared beside Kitty, a thick board in his arm. "Okay. Let's go." He turned to Evan. "Probably just as well. If anything heavier than me gets on that thing, it's gonna break."

"Aw, man!"

At that exact moment, the rickety construction started to sway. "Or maybe if the wind blows." Said Kurt. "Um. Evan, would you rather be sick, crushed or insubstantial?"

"Probably the last one, why?"

"Kitty, phase Evan." He teleported as the twelve-foot high, wooden crate creaked and fell towards them. Kitty barely had time, but she grabbed Evan and it passed through them.

"The bastard did it again!" yelled Kitty. "He knew this would happen! He knew it!"

"Ja. And it worked brilliantly, nein?" said Kurt, reappearing behind her, a huge grin on his face.

BAMF

########################-################################

"He made one of Evan's ramps fall down?" asked Scott. "That's not exactly a hard thing to do."

"No, man, he pulled one of the important beams out. I wanna know how."

Evan and Kitty were sitting at the kitchen table with Scott. Both looked furious.

"It isn't fair. You have to talk to him Kitty. If he does stuff like that to avoid talking to you, we're gonna have no mansion, soon." Said Evan.

"He was probably hanging onto a beam and teleported it down by accident." Reasoned Scott.

"He admitted it, Scott! He admitted it!" Kitty threw up her hands. "How am I supposed to talk to him if he won't stop avoiding me?"

"Poison?"

"Don't tempt me."

########################-################################

She finally found him alone at midnight. He was standing on the ceiling, which meant he was thinking, and eating, which was nothing new.

"Hey, Elf."

Kurt sighed and turned to her. "Hello Katzchen."

"Now there's a name I haven't heard today." She smiled nervously. "Ready to talk yet?"

"More's the point, are you?"

She gazed up at him. "What do you mean, am I?"

"Have you figured out what I was talking about? According to Rogue you seem to think I have gone off women." His teeth gleamed in the darkness, white above the yellow dots that were his eyes. "I assure you, I still find you as attractive as ever."

"So what was that about, yesterday?"

HE was quiet for a little while. "You tell me every now and again, that Lance makes you feel like you're nothing, ja?" He flipped to the floor to talk to her. "Like a plaything."

Kitty gasped. "Rogue wasn't right, was she?"

"Was?" Several meanings to that flashed through his head, each as worrying as the next.

"You don't feel like that, right?"

One of those meanings became very prominent. He took an unconscious step backward.

"She said I treat you like.. she said I abuse our friendship."

Kurt relaxed. "Oh. Well, actually," he laughed. "Abuse? Now there's a word I wouldn't have used."

She sat down slowly. The day before she had complained of being treated like a fashion accessory to Lance. That he didn't care.. She started to cry.

Kurt sat beside her and carefully put his arms around her. She jerked away. "What are you doing?"

He stared at her. "What, you think I'm going to just let you cry?"

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes and gave another sigh. "I don't hate you, Katzchen. You're still one of my friends. But what you gotta understand is that I respect you. I thought, until yesterday, that the feeling was mut- mutu-"

"Mutual," she whispered.

"Ja. Mutual. Then I remembered a few things I've been told.. by a lot of people. A lot of times." His grin flashed again. "At least three times a week.. on a good month."

She didn't laugh. He picked up one of her hands and separated them into a Vulcan salute. He pressed his against hers.

"WE laughed a lot. You were someone that didn't flinch.. after the first time I got knocked out. You wanted to be held. So did I. So I would. I held you, hoping one day something would happen to make you realise what you were doing. But then.. after everything, you still flinched. You'd run. You're still looking at this," he motioned to his hand. "Rather than this." He tapped his heart.

"I never ran. I don't flinch." She protested. He smiled sadly.

"You do. Why do you think you yell 'demon' when you're angry with me? Scratch any surface and you find gold." He grinned at his father's oldest saying. "It hurts, but you always say sorry. You always run to me when you're sad. So I hold you. But even when it's slammed in our faces, neither of us ever realised what we were doing."

She looked up finally. "Last night, you did, right?"

"So I thought you would too." HE stood up, letting her hand drop. "But even when people told you, you weren't listening. I doubt you will."

He opened the fridge, light poured onto his body and she gazed at his fur, casting shadows onto his clothing. He brought out two cans of Coke and tossed her one with a grin. "Why try to sleep when you can't, ja?"

She set it aside to let the bubbles calm before she opened it. In the meantime she rubbed her neck absently. "I treat you like crap, don't I?"

Kurt leaned over his can in an attempt not to laugh and send coke all over the kitchen. "I ask for it."

"You know what I want to say, don't you?"

"Jawohl, Katzchen. Und ich habe Ihnen bereits verziehen." He smiled at her. "I always do."

########################-################################ ########################-################################ ########################-################################

So, whatcha think? I dunno if I like this or not, coz it's still got the 'typical' element to it, but hey, why mess with what works, right? In case you're wondering, the German is 'Yes, Kitten. And I have already forgiven you." Ugh. Soppy. Anyway! Enjoy it, or don't, review, or don't. I am a review vampire, all hail me!